MILITIA

Militia Militia

John Jen Hoe Chong speaks about his killer images

“THIS IS MY FAVOURITE IMAGE. I THINK SHE REPRESENTS THE FEELING OF OUR COLLECTION THE BEST.” TECHNIQUE: A RAZOR CUT WAS USED TO CREATE MOVEMENT. THE CROWN OF THE HEAD WAS ACCENTUATED BY SHORTER PIECES. THE FRINGE WAS EMPHASIZED BY DISCONNECTED PIECES AND COLOUR PLACEMENT. COLOUR: CRYSTAL BROWN

HAIR: JOHN JEN HOE CHONG COLOUR: CRYSTAL BROWN AND ALANN SLUSER MAKEUP: GIANCARLO INTINI PHOTOS: BABAK

Edited by Morella Aguirre

We call our collection Militia. It’s a series of strong and fierce images mostly inspired by the models themselves. Inspiration also came from military fashion trends, which I believe we took to the next level. The models became renditions of how we think futuristic militants may look.

Working and communicating as a team became an imperative part of the process. Colourists Crystal Brown and Alann Sluser and I got started with a series of meetings. We worked together and communicated our ideas, not only with each other but also with our makeup artist, Giancarlo Intini, and our photographer, Babak. The vest our models are wearing actually belongs to Babak, who suggested using it after we discussed our idea. I can’t stress the importance of this type of teamwork enough. By building a team of people with different strengths you will create great things.

The actual styling process began with the cut; colour was placed afterwards. Crystal and Alann worked with panels or blocks of colour rather than highlights. Colour placement was determined by the cut itself and was designed to enhance the style’s quirks and shapes. We think we’ll see more of this type of colour treatment. Long gone are the days of “only your hairdresser knows for sure.” If you’re fashionable, your hair will be coloured in an obvious way.

“WHEN WORKING WITH TEXTURED STYLES, LESS IS DEFINITELY MORE. WORK SLOWLY AND DON’T TOUCH THE HAIR ANY MORE THAN YOU HAVE TO. TAKE THE TIME TO CONSTANTLY EVALUATE THE SHAPE YOU’RE CREATING.” TECHNIQUE: HAIR WAS SET BY WRAPPING SECTIONS AROUND LARGE PIPE CLEANERS, ALLOWING FOR A SOFT FINISH. COLOUR: ALANN SLUSER

TECHNIQUE: HAIR WAS SET BY WRAPPING SECTIONS AROUND LARGE HAIR PINS IN A FIGURE EIGHT WRAP STYLE AND USING L’ORÉAL PROFESSIONNEL TECNI.ART PLI THERMAL SETTING SPRAY. COLOUR: CRYSTAL BROWN

TECHNIQUE: HAIR WAS BLOW-DRIED,

FLATIRONED AND BROUGHT TIGHT TO THE HEAD. A BLOW DRYER AND HAIRSPRAY WERE USED TO LIFT HAIR AND CREATE AIRINESS AND MOVEMENT. COLOUR: ALANN SLUSER

TECHNIQUE: SET WITH LARGE PERM RODS AS A STACK PERM (AGAIN WITH L’ORÉAL PROFESSIONNEL TECNI.ART PLI). COLOUR: CRYSTAL BROWN S